Help For Refugees Portishead – How to Help

HELP FOR REFUGEES PORTISHEAD

Listen carefully and you may be able to hear the actual sound of a hive of activity which is buzzing in Portishead at the moment. A busy band of workers has been collecting piles of clothing, shoes and toiletry donations, taking them home, sorting them into sizes and putting them into handy packs which will be easy to distribute to refugees who’ve been forced to give up the comfort of their homes.

It doesn’t end there. A team of bakers Mary Berry herself would be proud of, is baking a small mountain of delicious cakes, which they’re hoping to sell to the rest of us, at their coffee morning tomorrow. While our mouths are full, it’ll be hard to say no to purchasing the odd raffle ticket (or five) to boost the coffers.  Actually when you see the list of prizes, you might be sticking your elbows out and pushing your way to the front of the queue!

All donations have been welcome and some have really blown the volunteers away. Solelution has given around 250 pairs of new shoes which will make a huge difference and the 26″ Sony TV provided by Freemans will really help boost those raffle ticket sales, to mention just a couple. A full (ish) raffle prize list is included at the bottom but it’s been very difficult to finalise as more gifts just kept coming in!

There’s been a lot of burning of midnight oil and co-ordinating babies, buggies and bundles but soon this project will be over – well for Portishead at least.

Here’s their message to us and how we can help with the final push:-

“We are Community group Help for Refugees Portishead. We are Mums and families from Portishead who want to help families and individuals who have had to flee their homes because it’s just too dangerous to stay.

We have been collecting donations from around Portishead and people have been so generous. We are sorting all the clothes into zip lock bags containing one full, warm outfit for one person. These are made up by size and gender. This way the bags can be immediately handed out as soon as they arrive, with no more sorting needed by the aid workers on the ground. We are doing the same with toiletry bags.

We need the funds to ship the goods on pallets to where it is needed most (currently a number of camps in Greece). We have a brilliant almost at-cost quote from DHL, but we still need to raise at least £1,000 to send them. If we have any money left over after shipping costs, it will be spent on underwear, hats, gloves, sleeping bags and other essentials. 

We Really Need Your Help – And here’s how you can:

1. Come to our Coffee Morning
Saturday 17th October 10am at the PWMC Sports bar and venue on Slade Road. Cake, kids activities, raffle. Donate as much as you can on the day.

2. Donate goods by 17th October.
Drop them in to Soleution on the high street or bring to the coffee morning.
See our updated YES PLEASE! NO THANKS list. It’s really helpful if items are clean, sorted and labelled.

3. Give us your time
We really need help to sort the goods. This can be done at specific times at a group sorting. Or you can take some bags to sort at home and bring back. If you could manage this for us, post on the Help for Refugees Portishead group page.

4. Donate Money Online.
Vintage Church are a community church in Portishead. They have kindly lent us a garage to store and sort goods, as well as the means for people to donate to us online. Click (or copy and paste into browser) the link below to the Vintage Church ‘Give’ page:
a. http://www.vintagechurch.co.uk/giving/ (2021 update – page no longer available.)
b. Click on the yellow button marked ‘Donate’
c. In the box marked purpose write ‘Help for Refugees’
d. Follow instructions to donate securely by PayPal or card.
PLEASE NOTE THAT ALL MONEY DONATED IN THIS WAY WILL COME DIRECT TO US WITH NO COMMISSION /FEES TAKEN BY VINTAGE CHURCH OR ANYONE ELSE.
100% OF THE MONEY WILL GO TOWARDS HELPING REFUGEES WHO ARE SO DESPERATELY IN NEED.

Please share this post with your local friends and spread the word.
Thank you!”

This is our wonderful Portishead community at its best, and it’s not too late to join in. Tomorrow is the FINAL day for donations of clothing, blankets, sleeping bags etc. You can bring donations to the coffee morning or drop them at Solelution in the high street, but please nothing more after Saturday. Hats, gloves, pants and socks particularly in demand.

Once you’ve dropped off any clothing donations, you can celebrate your decluttering success by eating cake, drinking coffee and buying raffle tickets.

They’d be delighted if you’d like to bring a cake.

AMAZING prizes are up for grabs at tomorrow’s coffee morning. It’s only £1 a ticket or 5 for £3.

RAFFLE PRIZES RECEIVED SO FAR

(No more raffle prizes needed now, thanks.)

Holly flowers Handmade art work
Amanda Bonwick Usbourne book voucher
Vibration Studio 1 month membership and health MOT
Smallprint Silverwork voucher
Partyease Silver party plan
Solelution £25 voucher
Bond lingua 1 free term (£30)
Cat companion catnip and a mouse toy
3 peas in a pod Named bunting
Talking Tots 4 free lessons and a t-shirt
Vicky’s Nail Salon £10 voucher
Careys Art set
Shannicatti Shakes gift voucher
Caro Griffin Body Shop Hamper
Carite Mini valet
Karen Heasman Forever Living
Greater than Words £20 voucher
Walnut Grove Clinic £25 voucher
Boots Ted Baker bath products
Lloyds Bank staff champagne
Tonic Back, neck and shoulder massage
Lisa’s Word Clouds framed picture
Quayside hair and Beauty Cut and blowdry and manicure
Quayside hair and Beauty Massage
Kate Betteridge £15 iTunes
Sainsbury’s Prosecco
Kellianes Back neck and shoulder massage
Argos £50 gift card
Serenity Massage Back, neck and shoulder massage
Jean Mays Cut and Blow Dry
Tesco Express Thorntons chocolates
Footlights Performance Academy – voucher for 2 children to attend a workshop (value of £40)
Waitrose bag, magazine and Good Food Guide
Freemans 26″ Sony television
Images by Amy- 2 x mounted prints of local landmarks
Homebase Christmas candelabra
Laura’s hair £10 gift voucher
Dawn Adam 6 bottles of red wine
Robert John – miracle oil hair product
Impero Lounge – gift voucher
Youth Centre – £40 towards Childrens Party

Quite a list, isn’t it? If I’ve missed any, please add them in the comments below.

If you can’t come to the coffee morning you can still help ship the cargo out to Greece using the details above. 

Please spread the word – share this post, tell your friends, even better persuade them to come and eat cake with tomorrow.

Most of all THANK YOU!!!